A Woman Died After A Hospital Allegedly Refused To Give Her An Emergency Abortion

Valentina Milluzzo had been carrying twins for less than five months when she arrived at Italy’s Cannizzaro Hospital in labor. She was already experiencing complications, and after two weeks in the hospital, her temperature and blood pressure dropped and one of the fetuses developed breathing issues. But her family’s lawyer says the doctor refused to perform an abortion, claiming to be a “conscientious objector,” according to the BBC. "As long as it’s alive, I will not intervene,” they allegedly said. She miscarried both fetuses within hours. Her condition worsened overnight; she was transferred to intensive care and died the next day.

The head of the hospital disputed the family's allegations in a statement to the Ansa news agency, saying that they were incorrect. Another doctor at the same hospital told the Corriere website that all the doctors in his department objected to abortion, so they called in doctors from elsewhere to perform abortions when needed. But it wasn’t needed in this case, he said, because it was a “spontaneous miscarriage.” Abortion is illegal after 12 weeks in Italy unless the mother's or fetus’s life is at risk, and Italian government statistics indicate that 70 percent of doctors in Italy refuse to provide abortions.

This wouldn't be the first time a woman has suffered gravely because a healthcare provider refused to administer essential medical care. One woman in Ireland died in 2012 after a hospital refused to give her an abortion. This summer, an American woman claimed that a Catholic hospital denied her care for her dislodged IUD, and her bleeding and pain went untreated for two weeks.

A postmortem is being performed on Milluzzo's body as her case continues to be investigated.